"Although the TV world and the movie world have come together a lot more in the past few years, I think what's happened is only certain people can translate across, because they're given the chance to see whether or not they can make it on the big screen,'' Paul added.

"I think that's what I'm hoping this movie ("Highlander: Endgame') will do: show people who are film producers and studios, etc., that yes, I can carry a movie.''

That may happen today, when "Endgame'' is released.

The film returns Paul to his TV role of Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod, an immortal gripped in a deadly, centuries-old "game'' with others who cannot age or die in the normal fashion.

It is the fourth in a popular sci-fi/action film series that inspired Paul's TV show. Christopher Lambert reprises his part from the original 1986 movie and its two sequels as Connor MacLeod, Duncan's kinsman, in "Endgame.''

The two immortals team up to fight another immortal (Bruce Payne), who will do anything to collect the "prize'' of ultimate power that all immortals fight for -- even by changing the rules by which the game is played.

The movie, which has been in the making almost since "Highlander: The Series'' went off the air in 1998, may make Paul a box-office draw if it is a hit. It could lead to more roles for the British-born actor, something Duchovny hasn't yet been able to do after the success of the film version of his hit TV series.

Television stars often have trouble jumping from the small screen to the movie screen. Paul, who has been acting for the last 14 years and who got his big break through a recurring role on ABC's "The Colbys,'' knows what his chances are.

But Paul has a leg up in the transition. Instead of coming in cold with a character that he had to learn to understand, he gets to play a character he knows backward and forward -- the romantic, dashing and heroic Duncan.

But Paul still returned to acting school to brush up on his technique, because "when you do something for so long, you kind of fall into a rhythm and a pattern, which isn't exactly organic.''

While the acting nuances had to be tempered for the movie, the action pieces didn't have to be modulated from TV.

"Highlander'' is known for its fast-paced swordplay and hand-to-hand fighting sequences, and "Endgame'' is no exception.

Paul, a former semi-pro soccer player, has always been in good shape. But for "Endgame'' he had to train rigorously and go on a special diet to get in peak condition for the stunt work he had to do.

"I really tried to do certain stylized things,'' Paul said of the backflips, triple kicks and other stunts he performed. He also had to pretend to fight several immortal opponents at the same time.

The laws of the game say that immortals can only fight one-on-one. There are other rules that fans of "Highlander'' know well -- there's no fighting on holy ground, an immortal can only die by losing his or her head -- that may baffle those not familiar with the movies or TV show.

Paul made sure that anyone coming into "Highlander: Endgame'' didn't have a hard time keeping up.

"That's one of the things we really worked hard on, was to actually put the rules out there constantly during this movie,'' he said. "We were very careful, the producers were very careful, about actually adding that and making sure people understood that. We wanted people that didn't necessarily know the rules of this game to come to it and go through it without saying, "Why are they doing that?'''

"The X-Files'' movie may spawn a sequel. If this "Highlander'' film does well, would Paul be game for more sequels himself?

"If I live at the end of it, yeah'' he laughed. "It's supposed to be "Endgame.'''